This has been perhaps the most challenging year of my life. It began with the knowledge that it was not to be long before my head was cut open and a bypass done in my brain. --That is, if I was accepted as a patient by Dr. Spetzler. You know how oftentimes we make New Year's resolutions that we tend to forget and not fulfill . . . well, this year has not held much of the unfulling part of the resolutions.

The one thing I understood was that the best thing I could do was to be as healthy as possible to come through the surgery favorably. It turned into three surgeries . . . and funny how for months afterward, I thought my head would smooth out & feel normal again. Ha! Now I know a bumpy head is a little reminder that will always be there, even when my hair has all grown out & covered it up.

My resolution for this year is to grow stronger and more self-sufficient. I'll hang onto the 2006 resolutions of being as healthy as possible also . that is healthy physically, intellectually, emotionally, spiritually. I suppose that keeping that health-orientation will help me to fulfill my goals of strength and self-sufficiency.